State and National Government
One of the General Assembly’s Republican leaders wasted no time criticizing the COVID-related guidance issued to schools across Virginia. It recommends that all students and staff in elementary schools wear masks, regardless of vaccination status. House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert says that guidance is inconsistent with science, it passes the buck to local school systems, and it will lead to widespread confusion. Gilbert says there is “nothing to indicate that requiring an eight-year-old to wear a mask .. will substantially reduce the transmission of COVID.”
GILBERT STATEMENT: “Governor Northam failed Virginians throughout the pandemic, and this new guidance is just another example. It is inconsistent with science, passes the buck to local school divisions, will spark mass confusion, and will make it more difficult as our students return to the classroom this fall. It’s an especially cruel requirement for young children, and will only make it more difficult for our teachers to inspire a love of learning in students.
“To be clear, I urge Virginians to get vaccinated if at all possible, so we can continue to move past this disease, keep our economy open, and return to normal. But there’s nothing to indicate that requiring an eight-year-old to wear a mask while taking a math test will substantially reduce the transmission of COVID, or any new variant that is emerging.
“At the upcoming General Assembly special session, Republicans will once again push our Democratic colleagues to take responsibility and take legislative action against any kind of mask mandate in our schools.”
We are not even into August yet, but the two major-party candidates for Virginia governor have already raised more than $43 million for their campaigns, making it all but certain that this year’s race will far and away be the most expensive ever. Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s campaign reports raising more than $23 million through last month, Republican Glenn Youngkin just under $20 million, and both are way ahead of any previous campaign for governor at this point. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
Virginia’s DMV is returning closer to normal in another way today as driver skills testing goes back on the road at more locations. Until last year, if you took the driver skills test as an adult, you probably were on the road as the examiner sat in the vehicle next to you. COVID changed that to the examiner standing outside the vehicle in a closed parking lot and issuing instructions to you through the open window. But as of today, more DMV centers are returning to the road, now including Bedford, Rocky Mount, Lexington and Pulaski. For now, however, Roanoke and Lynchburg testing remains in parking lots. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner continues to discuss pending infrastructure legislation, but a local Republican Congressman says he can’t approve of it – because nothing has been written down yet. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:
Hear the complete conversation with 9th District Congressman Morgan Griffith on infrastructure, the vaccines and the origins of the COVID-19 virus (including a segment not heard live on air this morning) below
State lawmakers must now work out the details to implement Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act, one of the first of its kind in the country. The bill passed this year provides consumers with rights to inspect, correct or delete personal data that large companies might sell. Among the most important questions is where will the funding mechanism for it come from. As written, the money to pay for enforcement attorneys and staff would come from a fund fed by penalties and fines — but until enforcement begins, there is nothing in that fund. WFIR’s Evan Jones has more:
A state watchdog agency tells lawmakers that the Virginia Employment Commission is still answering just a small number of incoming calls from residents seeking unemployment assistance — and the VEC has been something less than forthright in saying it has significantly increased staffing to handle the flood of pandemic-related unemployment claims. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Workers at the beleaguered Virginia Employment Commission are still responding to only a “small portion” of calls for help related to unemployment benefits, a state official told lawmakers Tuesday, presenting troubling preliminary findings from an ongoing agency audit.
Lauren Axselle, who is leading a review of the commission for the state’s legislative watchdog agency, also raised concerns during her presentation in Richmond about staffing turnover, a technology modernization project and whether real progress was being made in working through a backlog of claims requiring adjudication.
Axselle’s brief presentation came as the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission staff are working toward an interim report about the employment commission in September and a final report in November.
The employment commission, like its counterparts across the country, was deluged with an unprecedented flood of applications for benefits at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. It also faced evolving demands to implement new federal aid programs.
In response to a lawmaker’s question Tuesday about whether the performance of the agency’s customer service call centers had improved, Axselle responded that “some of the numbers I believe look a little worse” than at the height of the pandemic.
“As of right now it looks like only a small portion of … calls are being responded to by VEC staff,” said Axselle, who told the lawmakers she did not have specific historical data at the ready to cite.
She also addressed the recent work by the employment commission to process the tens of thousands of backlogged claims that had been awaiting adjudication.
While the VEC has recently reported reducing a backlog that started around 92,000 to about 40,000 over about two months, Axselle said concerns have been raised that new adjudication issues had been added to the backlog in that time.
She also described staffing turnover among the workers brought on to address those claims, saying her agency was trying to determine what the actual increase in staff has been.
“The narrative that casts VEC’s performance in this area as entirely positive may not be presenting the full picture to legislators,” she said.
An official with the audit and review commission said in a response to questions from AP that the agency could not yet provide more specifics about data points, including the number of calls responded to, staffing levels or turnover rates because analysts were still working to ensure their accuracy. Those details are expected to be included in later reports.
Asked if the employment commission had any response to Axselle’s remarks, spokesperson Joyce Fogg wrote in an email, “I have no comment.”
Virginians have flooded their lawmakers’ offices with complaints about the employment commission. At one point in Tuesday’s meeting, Democratic state Sen. Lionell Spruill joked that perhaps this year’s elections, when all 100 seats in the state House are up, should be put off so no legislators would be affected by the issue.
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (AP) — A judge in Virginia swiftly rebuked a conservative group’s effort Friday to remove a Black state senator from office over her role in a protest that ended with heavy damage to a Confederate monument.
Few expected the petition of 4,600 signatures gathered by members of the Virginia Tea Party to succeed against Sen. Louise Lucas, a longtime Democratic legislator and a key Statehouse power broker. The judge quickly ruled that, under Virginia’s Constitution, only the state Senate can expel one of its members.
“There is a process for that,” Chesapeake Circuit Court Chief Judge John W. Brown said from the bench. “This is not that process.”
The courtroom briefly served as a battleground for the nation’s culture wars over race, history and policing that intensified last year after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody.
“Our country was under absolute siege by these angry mobs,” Virginia Tea Party Chair Nelson Velez told The Associated Press before the hearing. “We had an elected official, a state senator orchestrate a riot.”
Terry McAuliffe (L) with Del. Chris Hurst. G Marrano photos
On a campaign swing through downtown Roanoke this afternoon the Democratic candidate for Governor – Terry McAuliffe – stopped by The Candy Store at Center in the Square, touting what he said were ways funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, passed on the Biden Administration’s watch, helped keep small businesses solvent during the latter stages of the pandemic. McAuliffe also said 7 million Virginians benefitted in some way from the American Rescue Plan.
Kief Cultivation Services is hosting Growing Marijuana 101 classes in downtown Roanoke beginning Thursday when cannabis becomes legal in Virginia. WFIR’s Ian Price has more:
For more details about the classes click HERE to access Kief Cultivation Services Facebook
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Virginia school board’s appeal to reinstate its transgender bathroom ban. Over two dissenting votes, the justices left in place lower court rulings that found the policy unconstitutional. The case involved former high school student Gavin Grimm, who filed a federal lawsuit after he was told he could not use the boys’ bathroom at his public high school.
The Gloucester County, Virginia, school board’s policy required Grimm to use restrooms that corresponded with his biological sex — female — or private bathrooms. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas voted to hear the board’s appeal.